Conventional musical training devices require fully operational musical instruments or specialized versions of those instruments that use a wired connection to a training computer. On these training devices, prompting of the user is limited to notes scrolling across a score sheet or relying on the understanding of the user or memory of the note or songs to be played. Then the music student can play the notes.
For a stringed instrument, finger placement for the student or user of the instrument is critically important. Typically, the presence of a skilled instructor is required to promote proper finger placement. While many devices exist to help a musician or user of an instrument learn how to play a stringed instrument; such as a guitar, no such device exists with the capability of showing the student proper finger placement.
Also critical in the playing of a stringed instrument is a properly tuned instrument. Such tuning must be done skillfully and accurately. It is difficult for a student to have the skill in tuning an instrument. If the tuning skills of the novice can be enhanced by a device, great advantages are obtained.
Proper feedback during the playing of the instrument also requires the presence of skilled instructor in most cases. If a device can provide audio or visual feedback, without an instructor present, it becomes quite feasible for the student musician to practice more efficiently when practicing alone.
However, this structure does not include an audio prompt audible only to the user with the proper note, tone, pitch, or duration played for the user to aid in a “musical ear” development for the user. Also, conventional devices require the instrument to be played, thus producing an audible output that can disturb other people in the surrounding area.
Other conventional training devices are wired, standalone devices that do not provide feedback to the user that the actions of the user are correct. Also on the conventional devices, there is no provision for monitoring or tracking the actions of the user over time to gauge progress in gaining speed or accuracy in the placement of fingers on the strings. There is also no means to convert finger placements to a score.
Still other conventional devices that are intended to instruct musicians or that can convert the sound of notes played to a score require an environment where the sound can be played on a full and complete instrument with or without an audio amplifier at an audible level thereby disturbing the environment of the user. Thus, these devices are not usable on a bus, a plane, a park or other public venue. In addition, many of these other instructional devices are not mobile or user configurable. Still another shortcoming on other conventional training devices is that the string tension cannot be adjusted to the user preference.